We are more than a third of the way through the legislative session, and it seems like we've passed very little legislation. Some might say that is a good thing … the less laws we pass, the less trouble we can make for the people of Georgia. In any case, we have 25 days left, with the session scheduled to end on the April 2.

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has emerged as a serious contender for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. In response, the Washington Post researched and published a lengthy article on the "mystery" of why Walker dropped out of college.

Oxfam reports that the richest 1 percent of people in the world own 48 percent of the world's wealth. Many claim that we should be alarmed by income inequality because it hampers upward mobility. Others argue that because income is distributed so unevenly, justice and fairness require income redistribution. Let's look at fairness and justice.

Recently, while responding to a question about how to get young people involved in politics, President Obama expressed fears that they see politics as a "sideshow in Washington" and should be taught that "government is not something separate from you - it is you."

In grammar school, Valentine's Day meant wrapping a shoe box with brown craft paper, cutting a slot in the top for cards to drop in and decorating the outside of the box with hearts and cupids. Store-bought Valentines were labeled the night before and carefully taken to school to be given away. When the big day came, it wasn't only if you received Valentines that counted, it was from whom, and if they gave you your card first that mattered.

This week, the House passed the 2015 supplementary budget, but still has to work on the 2016 budget. As I said before, revenues were up by $276 million, and we directed most of that increase to education, as well as Medicaid growth and mandatory compliance with Obamacare. The vote was bipartisan and unanimous.

When gasoline sold at record prices, Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said, "I think it's time to say to these people, 'Stop ripping off the American people.'" When the average price of regular gas was close to $4 a gallon, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., called for Congress to look into breaking up giant oil companies. The claim was that "Wall Street greed (was) fueling high gas prices."

On Monday, President Obama will unveil his proposed federal budget for 2016. Voters should be warned that virtually all the numbers reported in news coverage of the federal budget will be misleading at best.

This week marks the 50th anniversary of the death of Sir Winston Churchill, Britain's prime minister during World War II. Churchill took up painting as a hobby in 1915, after the Gallipoli debacle, where 46,000 allied lives were lost over nine months of the campaign. He went on to paint more than 500 paintings during his lifetime. As wartime prime minister, he took a break from painting, focusing instead on the task at hand - winning the war, no matter the cost.

February 01, 2015|
Jackie
Gingrich Cushman
|Columnists

1 2

Page 2 of 2

Archive By Section - Columnists

The eventual need for the Bear Creek Reservoir seems to be a foregone conclusion, but the county's need for more water may not materialize as soon as once predicted. Newton County recently was promised a $21 million state loan for Bear Creek Reservoir and the board of commissioners is now considering a resolution that will obligate taxpayers to finance the project and repay the loan. It appears that county officials are planning to proceed with construction within the next couple of years. However, a comprehensive analysis done as part of the 2011 Middle Ocmulgee Regional Water Plan indicated that ...

Numbers don't mean what they once did, do they? When I was a child, a quarter was real money, a dollar was manna from heaven, and a 20 meant you'd just celebrated a birthday. We kept our 10s and 20s in a bank that called itself the "Home of the Thousandaires." Becoming a thousandaire was a realistic goal when your deposit slip was nothing special. I'm sure a few of the people I knew dreamed of becoming millionaires, but the only millionaires I knew were the Clampetts who lived in a mansion in Beverly Hills. For me ...

No doubt there are thousands, possibly even millions of people like me who are glad that the election season is coming to an end. In less than a week, we will know the outcome of the presidential election (barring recounts).

Natural disasters like the one brutalizing the northeast this week are no time for politics. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie made that abundantly clear Tuesday by praising President Barack Obama for his handling of the federal response to the devastation wrought by Hurricane Sandy.

It happened quite suddenly. One morning recently, we heard the rip and roar of a chainsaw and the guttural grinding of a wood chipper. The noises went on for the better part of the day, and even when the dissonance ended, we weren't happy. One by one, the neighbor's trees that lined our back fence had come down. Gone was our semblance of privacy. We had an unimpeded view of the back windows that faced ours, their storage shed and a metal garage, and even beyond into the next yard. Their trees had shaded our back porch and ...

This will be the last column that I write before the presidential election on Nov. 6. I would be remiss if I did not take this opportunity to beseech you to vote responsibly and with careful thought to the future of this United States. This is not an election to be corrupted by personal racial bias, mindless party politics or mind numbing ignorance of the issues and what's at stake with your vote.

The charter school amendment will be decided on Nov. 6. If it doesn't pass, it will be the greatest upset since David conked Goliath with a rock. Give me the money that has been made available to the pro-charter amendment forces (more than $2 million, almost all of it out-of-state) and let me quash the opposition's right of free speech and I could get the little dweeb that runs Iran elected Pope.

Halloween is All Hallows (All Saints Day) Eve. Traditionally, it is when all the witches and other supernatural spirits get to play until midnight. All cultures around the world have traditional evil spirits of some sort. Western European spirits include witches, warlocks, ogres and dragons, to mention only a few.

In the 2000 Election Florida was the decisive state in the Electoral College. In 2004, Ohio was the ultimate battleground that put George W. Bush over the top. This year, it might come down to Wisconsin.

In this life there are consequences to our actions and certainly there are consequences to not telling the truth, either by lying or by omission of the truth. Occasionally, I am compelled to respond to an article written by my fellow columnist Maurice Carter.

This election is only tangentially a fight over policy. It is also a fight about meaning and identity - and that's one reason why voters are so polarized. It's about who we are and who we aspire to be.

I guess celebrities are everywhere, but I was really shocked to learn that the World's Greatest Dad lives in our town! What are the odds of that happening? By definition, there can only be one "World's Greatest Dad," and he lives right here, not over in a Tibetan hut or Australian wilderness protecting his kids from wild dingoes and snakes. I haven't met the guy, but I know he lives here because I've seen World's Greatest Dad shirts, pens and coffee cups for sale in the local stores.

Being judge and jury all in one has got to be a heavy burden, but don't you know a lot of people who like the job? It is a popular avocation, even a full-time occupation for many. People who create this job for themselves can never be off duty or go on vacation. The work is just never done. They must be ever vigilant, lest anybody get away with anything that might differ an iota from the perspective of the ones who have made themselves the arbiters of right and wrong, the acceptable and the unacceptable, the good and ...